District-telegraph call



(No Model.) 7

w. H. GARVEN. DISTRICT TELEGRAPH CALL.

Patented Sept. 4, 1894.

INVENTOH m I'araem A TTORNE YS.

UNITED STATES PATENT; OFFICE.

-WILLIAM HENRY GARVEN, OF PORTLAND, OREGON.

DISTRIC'li-TELEG RAPH CALL.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 525,649, datedSeptember 4, 1 894.

Application filed February 19, 1894. Serial No. 500,699. (No model.)

To all-whom it may concern.-

Be it known that LWILLIAM HENRY GAR- VEN, of Portland, in the county ofMultnomah and State of Oregon, have invented a new and usefulImprovement in District-Telegraph Oalls, of which the following is aspecification. I

My invention is in the nature of an improved district telegraph boxdesigned to call to a central station for messenger, police, firedepartment, carriage, express, &c.

It consists in the peculiar construction and arrangement of the boxwhich when operated shows on its face in a pictorial way the thingcalled for, and which call goes into the central ofiice on two differentcircuits, and is printed on tapes by two different registers, and whichbox also notifies the party who sent the call that it has been receivedand is being attended to, all as hereinafter more fully described withreference to the drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a view of the internalmechanism of the box, the front part of the case being removed. Fig. 2is a view of the front of the box. Fig.3 is a vertical longitudinalsection. Fig. 4 is an enlarged detail view of the circuit breakingdevices, and Fig. 5 a detail view of the gravity bar.

Referring to Fig. 1, A represents an ordinary form of clock mechanism;consisting of a coil spring, a train of gears, and an escapement, whichis wound through the shaft A provided with an index hand and windinghandle A on the outside. One of the shafts of this clock gear isextended beyond its frame work and is provided with a metal disk Baround whose periphery in a series of holes are arranged projecting pinsI). These are the circuit breaker pins, and they are arranged in suchgroups as to make a different succession of signals for each station,11. e. one box at one station may have a group of two pins followed by agroup of three pins for 23, another a group of two pins followed by agroup of four for 24, and so on, the pins being adjustable in theperiphery of the disk so as to permit this grouping to be made in anydesired succession to provide for a. different signal for each of agreat number of boxes. In the plane of this circuit breaker disk B isarranged a double circuit contact breaker that is operated upon by thepins of at the other end is grounded for a short circuit to the centralstation.

On an insulating block E areheld in the plane of the circuit breakerdisk two contact springs e and e, both of which are connected to theline wire section 0 One of these springs rest against a stop 6 whichforms the terminal of the line wire 0' and has a non-conducting stem 6that is adapted to be struck by the pins of the disk to force back thespring e away from the stop (2 and thus break the main circuit betweenthem. In front of this spring e is the other contact spring e which isslotted and embraces the non-conducting stem, and has its end bentinwardly toward the circuit breaker disk. This contact spring pressestoward the said disk but islprevent'ed from touching it bya head e onthe end of the non-conducting stem e outside of the slot in said spring.When, however, a pin on the disk passes this spring it temporarilytouches it andestablishes a connection between the main line section Cand the ground wire D through the metal frame'of the clock work.

' On the winding shaft of the clock mechanism is rigidly fixed a spiralcam K, and in its plane is arranged a sliding gravity bar F which islifted by the cam as the shaft of the clock mechanism is wound up, theextent of the elevation of said bar being commensurate with the movementof the clock mechanism shaft and cam, 1'. e. when the'shaft and cam arerotated a complete revolution, the bar is lifted the entire distance bythe cam; when the shaft and cam are rotated one sixth of a revolutionthe bar is lifted one sixth of its full adjustment; and when said shaftand cam are moved two sixths of a revolution the said bar is moved twosixths of its full movement, and so on.

The front of the box is provided with a glass door in which appearsconcentrically with the winding shaft and index hand a dialGwhichisdividedinto five equal subdivisions marked respectivelyMessenger, Coupe, Hack, Express, and Special. The movement of the indexhand on the Winding shaft over each of these subdivisions is so arrangedin relation to the circuit breaking disk as to makea complete revolutionof said disk for every movement of the index hand over each of thesesubdivisions. Thus for instance if the circuit breaker disk has a groupof two pins followed by a group of four, one revolution of this diskwill indicate 24 and will'be caused by the movement of the index hand tothe first subdivision marked Messenger and its return to the startingpoint. If the index hand is turned over two subdivisions to Coup and isthen released, the clock mechanism makes two complete revolutions of thecircuit breaker disk, and the signal 24 is repeated which calls for acoupe. If the index hand is turned to the next subdivision for a hack,the signal 24 is given three times and so on.

Now in order that the sender of the call may know that his call has beenproperly made, a pictorial representation of whatever he calls forismade to appear in a window W in the upper part of the case by the act ofsending in the call. For this purpose the gravity barF is provided andis given an adjustment through the cam exactly commensurate with themovement of the index hand on the dial. Said gravity bar has attached toit an elongated plate H which slides with the bar immediately behind thewindow W in the front of the case. This plate is divided into just asmany subdivisions as there are subdivisions in the dial, and on each ofthese subdivisions is delineated a picture of the several things calledfor, arranged successively from top to bottom in the order ofprogression of the index hand, i. e. on the top part of this plate willbe a view of a messenger boy, next below it a coupe, then a hack, and soon. Now as the adjustment of this plate H is made commensurate with themovement of the index hand through the cam, it will be seen adetenttooth Z which engages with and holds the gravity bar to the position towhich it may have been elevated. For this purpose there are pins m onthe side of the gravity bar which are engaged by the tooth of thearmature. When this electro-magnet is energized, and its armature isattracted, the gravity bar drops. from the main oifice by simply closinga current through these electro-magnets which constitutes the answerback. For this purpose the gravity bar has its upper half made of metal,and the lower half of rubberor other non-conductor with two insulatedplates 11 n on opposite sides of the same.

To guide the gravity bar and allow it to move easily it is channeled andmade to slide on a central guide rod 0 Fig. 3. On the opposite sides ofthe gravity bar are two flat springs c and c which are connectedrespectively to the line wire sections 0 and 0 Beside these two flatsprings are two other flat springs 61 and d arranged also on oppositesides of the gravity bar. and d are connected respectively to the twoterminals of the electro-magnet. Now when the gravity bar is in itslowest position, the line current is closed between the springs c 0because they rest on the upper metal end of the gravity bar, as in Fig.5 and the line current can pass from C to 0 through the 'contact springsc c, and thence through the circuit breaking springs to O, and out toline again, while the electro-magnets are out off because their flatsprings d d rest upon the insulated plates 11 n which have noeleetricalconnection on the gravity bar. however the gravity bar is raised by theoperations of the call box both the sets of springs c c and d d passonto the insulated plates, and the current can now pass through theeiectro-magnets by the following path: from C, to c, to insulated platen, thence tod to the electro-maguet, from the magnet tod', thence toinsulated plate 71/, to spring 0', thence to 0 then to the circuitbreaking devices at E and the line wire 0'.

It will thus be seen that this instrument sends a call through thecontinuous metallic circuit 0 O, and also through a short circuit by wayof the ground wire D. It automatically and pictorially indicates thenature of the call, and permits of an answer back from the centraloffice, thus giving the assurance that the call has been received and isbeing attended to.

It is obvious that the dial and mechanism may be arranged for any numberof calls.

To prevent the making and breaking of the main line current at E frominterfering with the action of electro-magnet I and prematurely droppingthe bar F, the armatureJ of the electro-magnet is adjusted so thatitdoes not respond to the working main line currents, but will respondto an extra batteryof higher voltage, and when the answer-back magnet isto be operated a current from this extra battery is thrown on the line.

This movement is effected These springs d according to the throw of thewinding shaftand cam, substantially as shown and described.

2. The combination with the circuit breaking disk of a district callbox; of the duplex spring contacts e and e, and their stops e and 6 oneof said springs being arranged to make and break circuit through itsstop and the other through the circuit-breaking disk substantially asshown and described.

3. The slide bar F having a metallic portion at one end with pins orteeth, and anonconducting portion at the other end with insulated metalplates n n,- in combination with the electro-magnets I, and armature Jwith detent for engaging the pins of the slide bar, the contact springsc c and d d, the circuit wires, and the adjusting cam K, andcircuit-breaking devices, substantially as shown and described.

WILLIAM HENRY GARVEN.

Witnesses:

THOMAS H. WARD, HENRY FASSBENDER.

